Exclusive: ELLE chats with Pierre Hardy

In the May issue of ELLE (out April 3rd), we exclusively reveal the collaboration between shoe designer Pierre Hardy and make-up maestro Francois Nars. We travelled to Paris to meet with Hardy earlier this year, to talk about two of team ELLEs favourite things: shoes and make-up.

Hardys design aesthetic is a combination of cool minimalism with bright and fun, yet considered, details. This makes his partnership with make-up maestro Francois Nars, whose sleek, matte, monochrome packaging often houses rainbow-bright cosmetics. In fact, it's a match made in fashion and beauty heaven.

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Ive been seduced! Hardy exclaims when ELLE met him at his boutique in Paris. I remember the first time I went to New York to the meeting [with Francois Nars] and all the products were spread out  the colour, the pencils, for me it was like an artists paint box. And that is what I love most. Beyond fashion, beyond accessories, I really love art and painting and creation  what you can do with it

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Looking around Hardys shop you realise that aesthetically Hardys shoes and Nars products are on the same page.  Its another field of fashion, its something that I never actually thought about before but its complementary.

The collection include five pairs of polishes housed in miniature dust bags and shoe boxes, as well as two blushers embossed with a gold geometric design taken from his spring/summer jewellery collection. While make-up is different to shoes, Hardy approached the process in the same way. Colours and textures, those are the questions I ask myself for the shoes for me the relation with the touch, the sensation of the product was very important for the make-up also, he said.

For the nail pairings, some are harmonious duos, while others are more shocking juxtapositions. I love twisted harmony and the not so obvious for nail colour, Hardy reveals. I really love the dark burgundy and the peach, I think they express femininity in two different ways. The peach is sweet and the other is darker. Looking at his shoe designs, you understand its this twisted logic that makes his designs so exciting.

And the burning question for Hardy - what shoe styles should every woman own? I think the shoes a woman should own are the ones that fit you best, then make them match the fashion. First look at what is right for your legs and what is right with this coat or whatever. In the moment you decide. Especially because now fashion is so open, there is no limit.

What inspired Hardy most isnt fashion or even his great love for art,. Most of the time its very abstract explains Hardy. In the beginning I never tell myself a story . Its more experimental Not that Im not a very good storyteller! he quips.

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